Mourinho took little consolation in his side's spirited performance after they were reduced to ten-men following the late dismissal of midfielder Ramires, before a dramatic last gasp Javi Martinez equaliser denied his side a heroic victory against the European champions.

"The best team lost and for me by far the best team," Mourinho said. "For me, they dominated 15 minutes of the second half, but we always had the game under control. Even with ten men, the team played fantastic and dealt fantastically with the situation.

"Pride, okay we have pride, but we lost. We played for a long, long time with ten-men, the team was tired, the team was staying back and back and back. In the last period of the game I put John Terry on as the game was about them crossing balls into the box. Did we make a mistake maybe, but if football was a little bit fair, then we win the game."

Mourinho disputed the second yellow card awarded to Ramires for his 85th minute tackle on Mario Gotze, even though TV images suggested he may review his initial opinion when he watches the incident back in the coming days.

"The referee must have passion for the game and the game eleven vs eleven was much better," argued Mourinho. "It was not a situation where Ramires hurt the opponent, was not a situation where the opponent was in a dangerous counter attack, was not a situation where you need to show the second yellow card.

"This is my situation with UEFA for a long, long time and it is best that I saw nothing other than the best team lost. That is enough."

Chelsea captain Frank Lampard was equally crestfallen, as he lamented the last minute goal that handed Bayern their equaliser that forced the game into a penalty shoot-out.

"I think we deserved to win," stated Lampard. "What can you say? It's hard out there with 10 men. You're all tired, but it's early in the season. They might feel they deserved it by keeping going but when you get that close it's frustrating. We've got that spirit in us, which we've never lost. I think we're going to be very strong, very soon."